Music can help us heal and pep up our mood: Dr Blossom Kochhar

I love meeting people, and during this time of staying at home and social distancing I am not able to meet anyone. So, this makes me a little sad. But, the good part is that after years, I am able to sit down peacefully and not worry about office work or going to events. I am using all my time to think and strategise how we will bounce back once all this gets over.

The COVID virus is really affecting my work as everything is shut down – salons, factory, e-commerce, manufacturing of new products... have been put on hold and a lot of planning has been delayed. As for my family, though after a point it gets boring to be at home, we are glad that we are all together and safe.

I don’t have a to-do list, but I do have a priority list where I figure out what work to finish within the deadlines that I have set for myself. We all are still working from home so the matters that need my attention, I tend to finish them first and then complete the other tasks for the day. Other than that, I am playing the djembe a lot as I believe music can help us heal and pep up our mood. I am also taking an online advance course in photography. One thing that excites me the most is the competition that I have with my brother, about who walks more steps in a day. We drive everyone in the house crazy, as we are walking the entire day.  

Sanitising our hands regularly is really important to combat the virus, so, we have made our own sanitiser with the required amount of alcohol base. I make sure to use essential oils that help me in preventing the virus. Basil, eucalyptus, lavender, thyme, rosemary and peppermint oils work really well. At home, we make a conscious effort to keep the house clean and sanitised. The cleaning is done from the floor to the doorknobs, and done many times a day. It has become a rule to wash our hands with soap not less than five times a day. Even our house helps are being very cautious; they wear gloves and masks while cleaning the house, and whenever they come back after buying essentials they have to take a proper bath to remove any dirt or infection on them. We make a list of all the important things that we require and go out only once a week.

I had a lot of travel plans which got cancelled; I had planned meetings with my International distributors, training and skilling the youth of the country. Once everything gets back to normal, I would like to resume all of this.

Delhi-based Dr Blossom Kochhar, 75, Founder & Chairperson of the Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies institutionalized, spoke to Angela Paljor